Contracting construction for garments and other articles



M. S. GEORGE Sept. 24,

Filed Jan. 2 1921 mama Sept. 24, 1929 UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE MAUDE SINCLAIR GEORGE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOUZBI comnaczrme CONSTRUCTION son oanmnn'rs AND OTHER anrrcnns Application filed January 26, 1921. Serial No. 440,158.

termed in the trade as all rubber baby pants in contradistinction to those having a loose or removable cloth cover. These all rub- 10 her baby pants are usually made of rub- Y berized cloth or rubber sheeting to form a full, bag-like trunk garment having only waist and leg openin s.

It has been propose to contract these open ings, at waist and legs of the wearer, by several different means, such as draw-strings, elastics and the like. Practical use and experience has taught that the provision of elastic at the openings is the most practical .because of being more comfortable to the wearer, elf-adjusting to the movements and size of the wearers and more efficient to prevent the egress of moisture through the openings; and several methods have been proposed for applying or attaching the elastic at these openings. V d It is the object of this invention to apply and secure the elastic at the waist and leg openings in a novel as' well as ornamental 3o manner, which is much cheaper and quicker than has beenheretofore proposed,and at 'the same-time, having certain features of advantage which increase the wearing ualities or life of the garment and in no way inders the expansive and contractile properties of the elastic.

With these and other objects in view, the invention resides in the sundry details of construction, combination, and arrangement 40 of elements hereinaftenmore fully set forth and pointed out in the appended claims In this specification and the annexed draw ings, the invention is disclosed in the form in which it is considered to be the best, but

the invention is not limited to such form be cause it is capable of being embodied in other forms; and it is to be understood that in and by the claims following the description here.- m it is intended to cover the invention in whatever form it may embody within the scope thereof. I In the drawings, which illustrate the preferred embodiment of the invention Y v Figure 1 is a front elevation of the baby pants embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional View taken substantially'on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3'is an enlarged fragmentary detail of a portion of the garment adjacent its openngs, equipped with the invention, said edge 00 portion being in its normally contracted condition, and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but illustrating the edge portion of the opening in its expanded condition.

- Referring particularly to the drawin s, 1 indicates the aby pants, which is a full, aglike garment, constructed in any particular manner, and having a waist opening 2, at its upper portion and with leg openings '3 on opposite sides of its lower portion.

The waist and leg openings of the garment are provided with suitable means for contracting them about the body and legs of the wearer. This means consisting of a relatively wide strip of elastic or other suit-able expansible and contractible material 4. This strip 4 is arranged on the outer face of the garment and encircles the o ening thus formin a band normally contracting the opening, in t e manso.

ner shown in the drawings, but is spaced for a distance from the edge of the opening, as shown.

The-elastic strips 4 are maintained in position by an expansible casing 5, enclosing it 35 andsecured to the garment. This casing 5 is provided by two spaced rowsofistitching a and b, coextensive with the elastic strip 4. The rows of stitching, a andab are connected together by a series of closely arranged cross far as the elastic itself without enlarging the casing 5 of this invention is a decided im-- a stri e ges and stitches 0', extending substantially transversely over the strip 4 and secured or attached to the rows of stitching a and b in any suitable manner. The'stitches 0 may be provided by a continuous thread or cord looped back and forth alternatively in the rows of stitching a and b, or may be provided in any other desired manner, form or configuration which will produce the cross stitches 0 overlying the strip i. In the present instance, the cross stitches c are shown as criss-cross stitching extending transversely over the strip a and being parallel to each other. The stitches 0, in comunction with the rows of stitching a and I), provide a casing enclosing the strip 4;, when the openings of the garment are in their normal unstretched condition.

In the drawings, the stitching a and I) is shown at opposite sides of the strip l, and is not connected to the strip, so as to leave the strip 4, entirely free and unattached -from the garment for unhindered expansion, although it is to be understood that it is within the purview of the invention to have the stitches a, I), extend through the elastic strip l.

To permit the openings 2 and 3 to stretch with the. strips l, about, the body of the wearer, as may be needed-and required, the material of the garmentis shirred at the openings as indicated at 6. Also, to permit this expansion of the rubber material of the baby pants at the openings, without injury to the material, such as rippin or the breaking of the stitch itself, the stitc es 0 and b are preferably of an expansive character or nature, such, as for instance, what is commonly known as chain stitch. Were these stitches of a non-stretchable character, such as the lock stitch -now commonly used on baby pants, there is considerable liability of breaking the stitching'itself, when the shirred openings of the arment are stitched, or else causing the stitc to cut the rubber material and thus destroy the garment. The stitching'a and b of the present invention is of an expansible or stretchable character and will stretch as perforations in the rubber material of the garment, and will consequently place all of the strain incident to the stretching on the elastic strip 4 and not on the stitching a and b, al-

though it is to be understood that the inven-.

tion is not limited to exp'ansible stitching a and I), because it may be racticed in some de ree with other forms 0 stitching.

' n addition to the above advantage, the

provement over theordinary casing provided of material stitched down. at its he gathering or shirring about the t opening being left entirely to the action of the elastic within the casing, which often causes a surplusage of gathering at one par ticulargioint in the openin and is always bulky, no to the fact that t e strip forming the casing must also have a surplusage therein to allow for expansion.

It is obvious that the present casing 5 has no surplusage of material therein because 1t.

is composed of a series of closely laid substantially parallel stitches c which will separate one from the other under the expansion or stretching action at the o ening. The stitches 0 of the casing 5 may he of any desired color or combination of colors to prohaving the casing 5 and the strip l on the outer surface of the garment, a relatively smooth surface is presented on the inner surface of the garment at the openings 2 and 3, when in a stretched or partially stretched condition so that there is no uncomfortable or injurious edect produced upon the wearer.

Therefore, from the foregoing it will be observed that the present improvement in baby pants is one of material advantage both to the manufacturer and the wearer. The garments made as proposed by the invention can be produced at a; considerable less cost and with more celerity than b any of the methods which have been hereto ore proposed and in practical use. The improvement also gives greater comfort to the wearer as well as enhances the'appearance of the garment and permittinghim to readily renew broken or worn elastic strips 4:. Furthermore, it should not be overlooked that the present method or manner of stitching the casing to the rubber material of the garment, permits the material of the arment to be stretched at the openings to its limit without the stitching causing the rubber material to rip stitching itself to break.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim'is:

1. In a garment having an openin therein, an elastic strip contacting with the outer surface-of the garment and spaced from the edge of the opening, stitches extending transversely across the outer face of the band but not penetrating the band or the garmentmaor the Ill terial, means disposed contiguously to the edges of the strip for anchoring said stitches to the garment so as to maintain the opening in normally contracted position and to pro- 'duce a shirred rufile at that portion of the' garment between the strip andedge of said of'the surface oft e garment.

strict'ed stretchin of the strip independent w 2. A trunk-like garment having waist and. leg openings, elastic strips contacting with the outer face of the garment, one disposed around and adjacent to the edge of each opening and spaced from said edge, stitches extending transversely across the outer face of said strips but not penetrating the strips or the garment material, rows of spaced stitching extending through the arment "material parallel with the edges 0 the respective strips and engaging contiguous portions of said respective cross stitchings to maintain the openings in normal contracted position, said rows of stitching being positioned contiguous to the edges of the respective band strips to cause the cross stitches to bind against the strips so as to produce a shirred rufiie at those portions of the garment between said strips and the edges of the openings uniformly shirred throughout their lengths, said cross stitches normally lying in close approximate parallel formation to substantially cover the strips and being capable of lateral separation when the garment and said strips are stretched to allow unrestricted stretching of the strips independent of the-surface of the garment.

3. In an article including a flexible material, an elastic strip on said material, stitches extending transversely across the outer face of said strip in approximate closerelation but not penetrating said strip, means disposed on said material at opposite sides of said strip and contiguous to the edges thereof for anchoring said stitches to said material, whereby said stitches maintain said strip in position on the material and whereby said stitches and elastic cooperate to normally produce shirring of the material on opposite sides of said strip, and said stitches substantially cover the strip in normally contracted position.

4. In an article including a flexible material, an elastic strip on said material, stitches extending transversely across the outer face of said strip in approximate close relation but not penetrating said strip, stitches disposed on said materlal at opposite sides of said stri and contiguous to the edges thereof for anchoring said cross stitches to said material, whereby said cross stitches maintain said strip in position on the material and whereby said cross stitches and elastic cooperate to normally produce shirring of the material on opposite sides of said strip, and said cross stitchessubstantially cover the strip in normally contracted position.

5. In an article having a flexible body material, the combination of an elastic strip on said'body material and spaced from'an edge of said body material, stitches extending transversely across the outer face of said strip but not penetrating the strip or the body material, spaced rows of expansible stitches in the material disposed at opposite sides.

of and contiguously to the edges of said strip strip and to maintain said material in a normally contracted osition.

In testimony w ereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MAUDE SINCLAIR GEORGE. 

